Sunshine On My Window
by InnocentGuilt
Summary: It wasn't that it was an accident. It was just that Jim wasn't quite sure that it would happen. Takes place about a year after Sunshine Of My Love. MPreg, slash, OC, me as the author. Hope you enjoy! Disclaimer: Don't own
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Here is the long awaited sequel to Sunshine Of My Love. I hope you enjoy, because I feel like I'm cooking up some good stuff.

Disclaimer: I sooooo don't own this.

+ststst+

_December 2256_

Jim sighed contentedly as Bones breathed out warm air across the back of his neck, shifting his legs to tangle through the doctor's. It was late, and their room was lit only by the yellow-orange light of the streetlamps outside their window. The only noise to be heard was Bones' deep, loud breathing behind him as he slept the stress of their semester away.

They had just wrapped up finals that afternoon, which meant nearly two months of semi-stressfree time to themselves and with their little girl, Joanna. The three of them had spent the evening with Maggie Jay, listening to her talk about her latest affair over Thai food from the Thai restaurant the redhead had found and fallen in love with. They had used a few codewords so that Joanna would generally not know the finer points on what Maggie Jay was saying, something they had become accustomed to over the year and a half Maggie had been around.

When Maggie Jay was leaving, she had decided randomly that she would be stealing their daughter. Almost without Jim and Bones' consent she had wandered into Joanna's room and packed her a bag, making sure to grab the little girl's favorite blanket, then she had grabbed Joanna's hand and guided her to the door, proclaiming it to be a girl's night and that they had to leave her stuffy parents behind. Joanna hadn't looked too pleased, understanding girl's night to mean that Maggie Jay would play with her hair and that they would watch what Joanna had termed 'girly movies,' which generally meant any movie that didn't have an explosion.

Joanna, almost four, was more tomboyish than any other child Jim had ever come across. She didn't really like to play with other little girls, though there were some other girls just as boyish and dirty as she was. She liked to play with the little boys more, to wrestle and play hardcore games of tag that ended in skinned knees and muddied clothing more than it ended in actually tagging other children. Her long brown hair that Jim always put up in the morning was always a decimated parody of what it was when they picked her up from daycare, always tangled and shabby.

Bones shuffled closer to him, arm wrapping tighter around Jim. There skin that was already pressed nearly airtight slid even closer together. Jim shifted, sliding his fingers through the doctor's and holding their hands tight to himself.

He couldn't believe they had been together for an entire year already. It hadn't been easy. They moved fast at a lot of things and some times it was easy to regret a few of them, but they had pushed through some of the harder things and let go of the fruitless fights. They had been there for each other when a lot of things were going wrong and that really counted in the long run when neither of them could really say someone had been there for them before.

It wasn't all he couldn't believe.

He had known for about two days. He had yet to tell Bones or anyone else they knew. He had gone to a free clinic to confirm his suspicions so that no one in Starfleet would be able to tell Bones before him. He didn't doubt that the doctor had noticed and come to a conclusion by himself, but still, it was the fact that he wanted to be the one to confirm Bones' beliefs. Not only that but he wanted to give himself a few days to adjust to the idea of going through this again, not as a lonely heartsick outcast in Riverside, but as someone in a steady relationship with friends who would be there for him and help him out.

It wasn't that it was an accident, per se. Over the last year, Sam had been calling more and more in an attempt to mend some of their bridges and in October he had announced that Aurelan was pregnant. Bones had gone into some introspective trance, staring at Joanna with haunted eyes he only ever got when he thought about how he had missed two and a half years of her life. They had talked for almost two weeks before they had decided that they would throw a little caution to the wind and if it happened it happened and if it didn't…well, then it didn't.

But it had.

Jim was four weeks pregnant.

He figured he would tell Bones on Sunday, before they went to the bi-monthly dinner that they had set up with Pike and Archer. He would tell everyone else at Joanna's birthday party next Saturday.

He sighed and held their joined hands closer to his body, subconsciously pressing their palms where his growing fetus was located under his skin, their second child together.

It was a little unnerving to think about. When he had found out about Joanna, he had been sure that he would never see Bones again. He had all but hidden from the world; his only outlet was Maggie Jay, who at the time had been…

_A sharp knocking had sounded at his apartment door._

_Jim didn't want to talk to whoever was on the other side. "Go. Away," he said, clear and concise, practically volatile. He was seated on his couch, his eyes turned upwards toward the ceiling. That for the last hour or so had been his only companion, if he didn't count the small fetus growing inside of him, leaching his nutrients away like some sort of parasite. His mind automatically apologized to the undetermined child inside of him, reminding himself that he wouldn't be like his mother._

_He heard his door slide open, even though he knew he had locked it. Growling in frustration, he shot to his feet and went to meet the person before they were too far into his apartment. "I said…"_

"_I heard what you said," a calm, smooth voice of a woman filtered throughout the small place. He recognized it immediately as Maggie Jay McCurdy, the nurse who had lived next door to him for a little over six months. She had taken him to the hospital that morning and performed the preliminary testing in order to find out what kind of 'flu' Jim had contracted. She looked at him with calm, understanding eyes, which served to piss him off more than if she had looked at him judgementally. "You should tell me what happened."_

_He stared at her for a moment before walking away, intent on heading towards the only bedroom in his small flat. The door slid shut with an unsatisfying snick and he quickly pressed in his code to lock the door before the annoying bitch on the otherside could intercept him again. _

_He flopped himself bonelessly onto his mattress, throwing his arm over his face while his other one strayed almost without thought towards his stomach. He could still hear her in his apartment, fumbling around through the bare room that made up the combination of his living room, dining room, and kitchen. He heard her sit on his couch through the thin wall separating them and her hand knocked against the cardboard that kept them apart from each other._

"_I don't have shift tonight, Jim," she said without even having to raise her voice. "I bet I can sit here longer than you can stay in there…" He thought differently until she said, "You left all of your padds out here."_

"_Fuck," he said outloud, shaking his head._

"_Tell me about it," she said and the scoff was apparent in her voice. "Now, you'll have to come out here and talk to me about this."_

"_Why should I fucking talk to you?" he snarled. "You don't know me? You don't give a shit."_

"_I care for all life, Jim. I'm a nurse; it's my job. Right now you have not one life but two in your care, and I could understand how you could feel overwhelmed by that considering…"_

_He cut her off. "Uh, considering I have a fucking dick?"_

_There was a stilted pause in which time he stared up at his bedroom ceiling too much like his living room's. When she spoke, it was hesitant. "Just to make sure…you've never had a false uterus…"_

_He threw a shoe at the wall, watching in muted satisfaction as it dented the painted sheetrock before it thudded against the ground. Glaring at where he imagined she was, he said angrilly, "I think I would be less shocked if I had a false uterus, lady. But considering I'm not old enough to even get the financing for such an operation and, to be honest, never even_ wanted_ kids before this…" he trailed off when his voice caught, feeling pinpricks at the back of his eyes. He grabbed another shoe and threw it as well, harder than the first one. _

"_I just needed to make sure…Look, Jim," she started again._

"_Will you just go the fuck away?"_

"_No…"_

…Well, suffice it to say that she had been less than welcome when he found out about Joanna and several of the following months. Joanna had almost been three months old before he let her all the way into his life without glaring at her for hacking his security code.

He had never expected to see Bones again, never dreamed that they would share another child. He never even let himself hope that they could meet, and if they did, he had_ known_ they would never be able to stay together. Now, they were together after having been reunited a year and some change ago, and Jim was expecting their second child. He felt better suited to deal with this situation this time round.

Yeah…

He felt better…

+ststst+

A/N: How was that for a prologue?

now we're cooking

InnocentGuilt


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Oh! Well, finally, right? Here's the first chapter. I'll probably have a chapter out every two weeks, what with work and some other projects that I'm not smart enough to dismiss. But, I've finally settled my life down enough to start making regular posts.

I hope you enjoy this…despite the wait.

ststst

Jim, being Jim, decided that he could not simply walk up to Bones and say, 'Hey, we're gonna have another kid. Yay!' That was simply too simple and for such simplicity seemed that it would be much more difficult than playing a game with Bones to help him find out about it on his own.

So, after the doctor had gone off for his shift in the morning…or more to the point, after Jim had allowed him enough brain cells to leave, Jim pulled on his leather jacket and went off in search of his wayward child and the friend who had stolen her the night before. Not that he had to search very hard. Maggie Jay lived in an apartment complex barely a mile and a half away from the Academy. Unless she was visiting Jim and his family and maybe every so often the Orion twin she had fallen in lust with, she was at her apartment.

He found both Maggie Jay and Joanna in the living area of the small apartment. Maggie Jay was twisting Jo's hair into a delicate knot and his little girl stared angrily at the television in front of her. She hated getting her hair done, but Maggie had somehow picked up the hobby of duplicating hairstyles she found on commercials, movies, or internet pictures. Unfortunately, she had 'chopped off' her hair the month before, turning her shoulder length hair into a pixie-cut that she religiously spiked every morning.

"Daddy!" Joanna called happily, her bright blue eyes losing their anger the second she saw him. She almost made to run towards him, but Maggie Jay's subtle placement of her hand on Joanna's shoulder made her stay in place.

"Hey, Jim," Maggie said passively, far more interested in her latest masterpiece than in Jim. "What are you doing here so early?"

Jim shrugged as he sat down in the only spare seat in the flat. "Bones went to work early this morning, so I thought I'd get you guys and we'd go to the store."

Maggie raised her delicate eyebrow and threw her pale green eyes at him. "To the store?" she parroted. "Why are we going to the store?"

He probably should have thought of something better, he realized moments too late. His plans for the store were unorthodox to say the least, and if he told her what he was after it would only spark more questions. Okay, so she had known before anyone about his first pregnancy—even before him—but since Bones was in his life now, he really didn't find it fair to tell anyone else before his partner.

In the time it had taken him to formulate that rationalization, she had cast him several glances around tying his daughter's hair into gentle knots, and decided, "Nevermind. You can tell me later. Let me finish Jo's hair and then I'll get dressed."

Forty-five minutes later found them at a local supermarket in the spaghetti isle, while Jim looked for a specific brand of sauce. Joanna, complete with pretty hair and mismatched clothing, was playing with a toy Jim had finally conceded into buying her, while Maggie Jay stood silently behind him with an amused look on her face that made it look like she already knew Jim's secret. He almost fidgeted under her pleased smile, but he refused himself. She was smug enough as it was; he didn't need to feed her ego.

"You know, we've already been in the bread isle. And now we're in the spaghetti isle. This wouldn't be so bizarre if a.) the bread you picked out went with spaghetti or b.) you were planning on buying spaghetti noodles…which, I'm just guessing, you're not." She had a shark-smile on her face, and her evil green eyes glittered mercilessly.

Jim rolled his eyes, about to respond when he finally found the brand of sauce he was looking for. When he pulled it off the shelf, Maggie laughed manically, doubling over. Joanna gave her a strange look, before casting her brilliant blue eyes towards Jim, confused and worried for her 'aunt.'

"Is 'Curdy okay?" she asked, smartly, ignoring her toy phaser for a brief moment.

He scowled. "She won't be if she keeps it up."

Joanna watched Maggie for a few moments, before telling Jim, very seriously, "I think she's broken, daddy."

"Oh, Jim!" Maggie crowed as she pulled herself together. "You are precious. Never, ever change."

Jim glared. "I'm never speaking to you again."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll keep your secret until you tell everyone else, but seriously…" she gestured to the can of sauce in his hand. "My god, I love you!"

And she was sent into further peals of laughter that only served to make Jim wish he had never invited her to come shopping with him.

.ststst.

When Bones finally returned home to their suite, Jim was lounging on the couch with a bag of trail mix resting on his stomach and Joanna was avidly watching the cartoons that Jim had turned the holoscreen to. The temperature must have dropped in the evening, because where as he and Joanna had been able to play at the park in just a sweater or insulated long sleeve shirt, in Jim's case, Bones was shivering a little as he shrugged out of his red, cadet jacket and his nose and cheeks were flushed red. Jim watched him, his head lolled over the back of the armrest as the doctor shoved his jacket into the closet and began rubbing at his hands, most likely in an attempt to warm them.

What struck Jim was the scowl on his face. Now, Bones normally wore a scowl, always seemed to scowl at anything that wasn't Joanna, and especially after returning from Starfleet's medical centre. This scowl, though, spoke of something beyond his general irritation with the world. His eyes seemed more pinched, like how they had been for so long when Captain Pike was around, or his ex-wife tried calling about allimony and dead-beat ex-husbands.

The doctor was only startled out of his mood when Joanna, looking around from her show for the first time to see him in the entryway, jumped up with a happy cry of, "Popsicle!" and then tore towards Bones with thunderous footfalls. Bones made no attempt to stop her and even swooped her up in his arms, something they didn't often do anymore since she was getting so big. However, today there was hardly any protest about growing girls or getting old. Jim wondered what the hell had happened while the doctor had been away at work.

"Hey, sweetheart," he said into their daughter's now thoroughly messy and tangled twist, hugging her to him as if trying to absorb her. He kissed her head, before setting her on the ground again. She looked up at Bones with bright, blue eyes and a happy smile full of baby teeth. Jim watched from his sofa, finally pulling himself somewhat upright when his head had started to pound. His heart still beat rapidly when Joanna looked at Bones like that, all ragged clothing and knotted hair. Not to mention Bones seemingly always heart-warming gaze as he smiled down at their girl.

Jim smiled mostly to himself as Bones gave a gentle command for Joanna to return to her show while he continued to move around their suite, into the small kitchenette that really wasn't a separate room from Jim, yet somehow seemed so far away. Jim watched as his partner of a little over a year moved around the small cooking area with a somewhat lost expression on his face. Bones looked like he wasn't quite sure what to do with himself, something not altogether uncommon. With Bones' occupation, he tended to carry a lot of the work with him, even when he was at home. "How was your day?"

Bones only grunted in response, looking at the counter with curious eyes.

"That good, huh?" Jim asked, throwing a bite of trail mix into his mouth.

"Yeah." Bones picked up the can of spaghetti sauce that Jim had left on the counter and inspected it with a frowning face, looking around for the rest of the ingredients that should go with it. When he couldn't find them, he cast his green-brown eyes toward Jim. "What'd you have for dinner?"

He shrugged. "Jo-bear had some chicken alfredo." Joanna nodded as if she had a much invested interest in the conversation, even though she was still watching her cartoons. Jim smirked, and then continued. "I've been snacking all day."

"Were you waiting for me or something?" The tone that Bones used was one of confusion, because Jim usually didn't wait to eat. It was something Bones surprisingly understood very well about Jim. When he was hungry he ate then and there, when he wasn't he usually snacked. It was something the doctor thankfully never questioned after Jim had divulged Tarsus IV to him.

He shrugged."No, not really."

"Why's there spaghetti sauce on the counter then?" he demanded, picking up the jar to wave it around like it was one of his prized hypos.

Jim smiled to himself, glancing down at his stomach, though Bones didn't see it. "It's a hint."

The doctor sighed and set the jar on the counter again. "Christ, Jim…I've had a long day…"

"Read the label."

"Prego…" He glared at the paper wrapped around the glass. "Okay. You've recently discovered your Italian roots."

Jim snorted, amused despite the fact that Bones was clearly not enjoying this game as much as Jim was."No-o. Look in the oven."

He ripped the oven open while grumbling, "Oh, for the love of…There's a damn hotdog bun-" then he stopped, looked torn between incredulity and awe. For a moment, Jim thought that his brain had short-circuited, because he just stared into the oven with an almost unbelieving gaze. Then he turned to Jim, asking almost too quietly to hear, "Really?"

Jim couldn't tell if he was asking about his method of revelation or what the revelation was. So he answered with a cocky smile, "Oh yeah."

Before Jim could blink, Bones was on the couch with him, spilling the trail mix and pushing his hands under Jim's shirt and all but fondling his stomach.

"How long?" he asked, his eyes lit with happiness as he met Jim's gaze.

Jim chuckled at Bones' exuberance. "How long have I known or been knocked up?"

"Either._ Both_." His hands stayed on Jim's stomach, as if he could somehow coax the little bean shaped child to move beneath Jim's skin.

"I've known for two days but the doctor at the clinic said I'm about four weeks in."

"Where'd you go?" Bones demanded, his tone sharp. He tended to be distrustful of anyone he hadn't heard of or worked with.

Jim shrugged. "Free clinic downtown."

His brows rumpled and a small frown pulled his lips. "You should come to Starfleet Medical tomorrow, just to be sure."

"Sure of what?" Jim asked with a short bark of laughter. "That they didn't make it up?"

"Jim…" He looked up into Jim's blue eyes, a beseeching look in his hazel eyes.

Jim sighed, as if this was the most grueling thin he would ever have to do, though some small part of him did admit it would be nowhere near as grueling as shopping with Maggie Jay that morning had been. Still it seemed sort of pointless. He already had the transmissions on his padd. What would going to Starfleet Med prove other than what he already knew? Still, he knew he would go because Bones would probably pitch a fit if he didn't. Putting a leer on his face, he said, "You just wanna give me an 'exam.'"

He rolled his eyes, a look on his face that clearly said that he still thought his life was made of win, despite the fact that he had been sidled with Jim. "Joanna is right there, you prepubescent brat."

Jim's smile grew. "You're in big trouble if I'm prepubescent."

"Shut up." Bones pressed his lips to Jim's, always an effective way of shutting him up. "We're gonna have another baby?"

"Uh huh," Jim confirmed against the doctor's lips.

The doctor's hands flexed almost without thought against his abdomen, his thumbs rubbing against the skin adoringly.

This was definitely a better start than his last pregnancy.

+ststst+

The exam that Bones gave him the next morning was nearly the exact same one Jim had undergone the previous week, the difference being Joanna was in the room fiddling with Jim's padd, while Bones ran his tri-corder over Jim repeatedly. Bones couldn't seem to get enough information, everything that the tricorder bleated out was just met with something else he wanted to check up on.

Jim was pretty damn sure that every test that he had been subjugated to with Joanna, Bones had run in the thirty minutes Jim was laying on his bio-bed.

By the end of it, Jim couldn't help looking at Bones with a non-plussed feeling wafting in the room and asking, "So what's the kid's gonna major in when it gets to college?"

Bones answer was his all encompassing, "Stop whining. I just wanna make sure you and the fetus are gonna be okay." He stares down at the tri-corder for a moment with furrowed brows and intent eyes. "Looks like you're both Rh-compatible so that's a bit off my mind. Should be a load off your mind too since that means you don't have to get a hypo for that."

Jim couldn't help the face he pulled at the mentions of hypos. It was bad enough he had been ambushed by Bones the night before, when they were preparing for bed. Why the doctor had a spare dose of prenatal vitamins just lounging around in their apartment…Jim would like to be privy to that as well. He had injected the dose into Jim's neck while he was drying his face, the bastard.

"Are you finished or would you like to try puzzling out what color its eyes are gonna be?"

Bones glanced at him, then at the tri-corder. "You wanna know the gender?"

Jim rolled his eyes. "Well if you already did the test…"

"I didn't do the test, yet, Jim. Do you want me to?" he asked, looking marginally irritated.

For some reason, Jim looked at Joanna, who was still coloring on his padd, her face every bit as focused as Bones' normally was. He had known with her when Maggie Jay did the test, because, well, Maggie Jay was a nosy woman and wanted to find out herself. He thought that maybe he would try and let this one be a surprise, but deep down he really wanted to know, that way, when they sat her down later to explain her new sibling, they would have an answer ready for when she asked if she was getting a brother or sister.

He met Bones' eyes, eyes that sparkled with silent amusement and anticipation despite his irritated tone, then nodded. "Yeah, run the test."

ststst

Joanna was speaking with Archer, her legs tucked up underneath her so as she could reach her plate a little better. The admiral was listening raptly to each thing she said. Their relationship had blossomed fabulously over the years and most days, when she wanted to see the crotchety older couple she asked to go see 'Admiral' instead of 'grampa.'

Jim and Bones were mostly wrapped up in a small conversation with Pike. Well, Jim was, Bones was just looking between the two, looking as if he wanted to put a ban on the ability to talk tactics at the dinner table. It would be rather moot since three out of four of the adults present were either in or had taken command track, and he would be outvoted quickly. Jim knew he could join in. Just because Bones was a doctor didn't mean that that was all he could think about. They had shared several in depth conversations about tactics over the months. Mostly it was the fact that Bones found it boring.

Jim was just hypothesizing about the Klingon methods, when they all heard Joanna declare, "I'ma have a baby!"

Her fathers both stared at her with wide mouths. They hadn't intended to tell Pike and Archer until next weekend, when they had all their nearest and dearest friends together in one place. Though she had done it in Joanna speak, she had most definitely spilled the beans a full week earlier than they wanted. They should have known better than to assume that Joanna wouldn't have picked up on what was going on. She was preternaturally smart in the most adorably, annoying way.

On the bright side, they didn't have to worry about whether or not she would be excited about a younger sibling. She wore a smile that was nearly blinding as she looked at a stunned Archer.

"I'm actually the one carrying the baby, though…just in case anyone was worried," Jim said, earning him an incredulous glare from Archer and an arched brow from Pike.

Jim glanced at Bones, who was watching the older men with critical eyes, then to Pike, who looked to be in 'Captain' mode, as Jim called it. His brow was hitched up still and his lips were pressed together. He looked like he had a particularly perplexing problem in front of him and he needed to find the quickest way to fix it, or his pretty ship would be exploded into smithereens.

"You're pregnant?"

Jim nodded, feeling a little like a child at the moment.

Pike took a deep breath, gray eyes closing for a moment. "How does this figure into your classes…and graduating a year early? There are a lot of sims that have the potential of being dangerous to fetuses, not to mention the fact that you still have to take …"

"I know that," Jim cut in with a sigh. "I've been looking through the brackets and I think that I could take a few of the upper classes this semester, and catch myself up in the fall semester. It'll be fine."

Pike sighed, looking worried. Really, the man was turning into the father he never had with each passing day.

Archer rolled his eyes dramatically. "What Chris means to say is 'Congratulations.'"

Pike gave him a glare that was withering, but when his eyes landed on Bones and Jim, he nodded nonetheless. "Yes. I do mean congratulations. This is really good news." He looked at Joanna. "Are you excited, munchkin?"

She nodded happily, like she had just found a stash of candy.

Pike smiled, finally, though it looked as if he was still trying to puzzle out exactly how he was going to get them out of this predicament. "Good. So am I."

He looked to both Jim and Bones, a promise lingering in his eyes that they were both is so much trouble later. Jim almost felt like a five year old under the stare and dutifully ate his dinner, torn somewhere between apologetic and really smug because he was getting away with something…what he was getting away with had yet to be determined, but that was neither here nor there.

Beside him, Bones hadn't quite made his peace with this conversation. He looked at Pike with his old, grouchy demeanor and seemed to have decided they would have the last word in this, thanks muchly. "It's a girl," he grumbled, staring at Pike like he dared the man not to melt at the news.

The captain sent him a glare that was almost lost in the way you could see him visibly trying to hold his enthusiasm at the news at bay. Still, Jim saw Bones smirk. They finally had one on Chris Pike.

Win!

.ststst.

(would anyone like cookies?)

InnocentGuilt.


	3. Chapter 3

Jim really wasn't quite sure how to tell his friends about the little bean growing inside him. He had been pretty creative in telling Bones, and Joanna had done the wondrous honor of telling Pike and Archer. He wasn't quite sure he could top those two announcements. He was beginning to doubt the logic in having decided to tell them at his daughter's birthday party. Not only was he beginning to realize that that was a little selfish…he had no fun way to tell all of his friends, 'hey, Bones knocked me up again.'

Part of him supposed that he could just let Maggie Jay stew in her anticipation until she cracked and yelled it for half of San Francisco to know. That did seem really appealing, considering all the glances she kept throwing him while sitting on Gaila's—one of the lovely Orion sisters that had taken the campus by storm—lap. She looked ready to combust if he didn't spill the news to everyone else…and soon.

Jim silently wondered how long she could keep silent.

Joanna and a few other kids were around the pinata and Jim put a mask over a little boy's eyes spinning him around in circles as the other children laughed and clapped. The little boy…Jason, that was his name, held the little aluminum bat closely to his body as Jim made him twirl. Jason took a few strikes at the papier-mache cat, even glancing off of the side once, but he didn't have any luck in breaking it open.

It had been like that for the last few minutes. At this point, Jim was just going to break it open for them to end the torture.

Jason moved to the back of the line, and the only other girl and Joanna's party, Madeline, hopped over to him with a sweet smile and wide, devious eyes that almost looked like Uhura's. Giving her the bat and sliding the mask over her face, he turned her around, giving a chuckle when she giggled excitely.

Madeline began twirling herself without his direction and the faster she went the more the bat extended outward, nearly whacking him in the stomach.

"Whoa, there Maddie. The pinata's that way," he gave her a gentle shove towards the paper cat and she swung the bat crazily, missing with her first strike.

Jim felt Bones before he noticed the doctor was even close to him, his hand pressing protectively over his stomach and drawing him back.

"I got this, Jim," he said, his low tone saturated with his Southern accent. "You should take a seat."

Jim looked over his shoulder, curiously, seeing him looking at the bat with the same disdain he gave shuttles and aircrafts. He rolled his eyes and the doctor. "It was nothing, Bones. I can handle this." He ran his hand over Bones' arm and then took a step away, intent on getting Dmitri ready for his turn.

Bones stopped him, taking hold of his hand. "Please?" he asked, drawing Jim closer so he could speak quietly. "It may have been nothin' to you, but it looked like something to me. You nearly got whacked in the stomach with a damn bat."

Jim felt a smile tugging at his lips, as well as irritation. It was sweet that Bones was getting so overprotective of the kid before it was even born, but Jim was pretty sure he had a handle on this. Okay, so this was Jo's first birthday party, and the only time anyone had trusted him enough to leave their kids with him for an afternoon, but he was aware of his body. Bones didn't need to worry.

Behind them pandemoneum was beginning to break loose as children decided that they couldn't hold the game off just because Jim and Bones were having a 'serious' conversation. He heard their daughter yell, "You can't do that, Maudry! It's not your turn!"

Jim turned back to break up the fight before it could get out of hand, but Bones stopped him yet again. "I got it, Jim. Why don't you go see if you can pester Uhura into giving up her name again?"

He glared at his partner, but at the beseeching look in his hazel eyes, he acquiesced and went to the 'Big Kid's' table, as Maggie Jay had christened it. He supposed she wasn't too far from the truth. With the way he and Uhura squabbled, and the pinching fights Maggie and Gaila participated in. A few of the other parents were around, people Jim and Bones knew from Sandcastles, but they hung back at a few of the other tables, looking for all of them like they were unsure to be seen with so many Starfleet cadets.

Jim supposed it was a good thing Eight, and, more importantly, Pike and Archer hadn't made it. Eight had to make a flight back to Alaska, and Pike and Archer had decided it would be best for the rumor mill if they stayed away. There had been some nasty rumors about all the time the four of them spent together, and how Jim and Bones were 'buying' their grades or some shit. So they had been playing it pretty low-key. Jim had even stopped helping Pike out with Advanced Hand to Hand.

He took his seat next to Uhura, who gave him an indulgant smile, flicking his ear affectionately. "What was that about?" she asked, tossing her long pony-tail over her shoulder. She gave him a steady look, her soft brown eyes melting into him.

He shrugged, still feeling some irritation with Bones for making him sit down. He looked over at his partner, to see him taming the mad den of lions that were a mass of four and five year olds. He was spinning Maudry around now, making him go slower than Jim had been forcing the children to turn, but that was the cautious price of being a docter, he supposed.

"Just a little disagreement," Jim said with a slight shrug.

Maggie Jay leaned forward on Gaila's lap, practically lying on the table. "What about?" she demanded, her poisonous green sharpening on him. A small smile was trying to work its way onto her narrow face, made narrower by her short hair. He could practically hear her telling him to spill the damn secret already!

He would not budge. "I don't think that's any of your concern, you meddlesome harpy."

Her glower put such a smile on his face. Her discontent was music to his ears.

"I think it is my concern, you insufferable prick. Kid nearly whacked you in the stomach, yeah?" She smiled, shark-like and evil. "Why did Leonard make you come sit? It shouldn't be that big of a deal."

He laughed. "You look like you wanna say something, McCurdy…"

"You're torturing me, y'asshole!"

"Will you keep your voice down," Uhura hissed, her head jerking towards the children. The pinata finally looking like it had a rip in it. Maybe spinning the kids slower had been a master battle tactic on Bones' behalf. She looked between them for a moment, much as their friend Gaila was doing. "What in the world is going on here?"

"Nothing. Maggie's having a freak out." He shrugged and leaned back in his seat, throwing his hands behind his head.

"I am not having a 'freak out', Jim," she hissed, her thin lips disappearing as she pursed them. "I will get my damn tri-corder if I have to, don't even try me!"

"For what?"

"Yeah, for what?" Gaila asked, her sparkling eyes lighting up with amusement, like they always did when Jim and Leonard argued. The girl had a serious fixation with arguing friends. He didn't quite understand it.

"For god's sake! Will you just tell them already!" Maggie whispered vehemently.

Jim's smile grew. "Tell them what?"

"That you're pregnant, you jerk!"

Yeah…he was_ positive_ half of San Fran had heard that proclamation. The room nearly stopped altogether, the only ones still moving being Joanna and the children who had finally broken the pinata open.

He laughed, leaning his head back further to rest in his arms. "You just did it for me, Maggie."

She looked like she would seriously murder him if he weren't carrying another child. Uhura looked shocked, staring at his stomach with wide eyes. Gaila…

Well, with the shriek she let out, he was pretty sure the entirety of California would need to go to a hearing specialist.

.ststst.

Uhura came by every evening for almost a week. She said that she was trying to get away from her roommate, but considering practically all of his friends, e.i. Gaila and Maggie Jay, were also in his apartment... It was like they couldn't stop crowding. Gaila especially was practically all over Jim.

"I have never felt life grow in my friend before. It's absolutely fascinating," she had told him the day after Joanna's birthday party, touching his stomach with soft, verdant hands, her blue eyes alight. He had smiled at her, her joy in life despite what she and her twin had come from, as he watched her long fingers skitter over his red t-shirt, trying to discern where the life would be, much like Bones did every night.

Uhura entered their apartment without preamble, like everyone else, throwing her high heels off as she came to sit on the coffee table, civvies molding to her form flawlessly as she took her seat. She looked a little worried, her brown eyes flickering between Jim and his stomach as she caught the corner of her lip between her teeth. It was very un-Uhura-like.

From his chest, where she was fighting sleep failingly, Joanna said, "Hi, Aiya."

Uhura smiled sweetly at his daughter, having adopted her as a niece of sorts. "Hey, Joanna-banana," she responded. "You look sleepy."

Jo snuffled. "I'm not." It was simple and concise and completely dichotomous as she yawned loudly. Jim rubbed her back, looking at Uhura curiously. Everyone else had yet to show up. Bones was still on shift and Gaila and Maggie were out in town, supposedly grabbing up decorations for the Winter Solstice.

They were the only three in the suite, not including Jim's bean. "What's on your mind, no name?" he asked, his eyes narrowing on her.

For once she didn't scold him about his absolute lack of manners. Instead she looked down at the pleated, black skirt she wore, smoothing invisible wrinkles. "You aren't dropping out are you?" she asked, still staring at the silk fabric.

For a moment, he could only rest his hand on Jo's head, not having expected such a heartfelt question from her. "No!" he said incredulously, trying not to wake his little girl from the slumber she had succumbed to not seconds after telling Uhura that she wasn't tired. When she stirred a little, Jim ran his hand through her hair, careful not to snag on tangles or pull to tightly. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, you're gonna have another kid, and this can be stressful enough…I just wanted to make sure…" She looked uncommonly unsure of herself, still petting at invisible wrinkles, taking a moment every so often to tug at the hem. He forgot every now and then that despite her many acquaintances, she was lacking on any sourse of friends, having only him, Bones, and Gaila.

Jim watched her with a sly grin slowly creeping onto his face. "You would miss me, wouldn't you?"

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "No. There is no way I could miss your overgrown ego."

"Then why did you look so worried, huh?" She glared at him, but it did nothing to temper his smile. "You would_ so_ miss me."

"I would miss Len and Jo. You, I would probably throw a celebration if you left."

"Would I be invited?" he asked, wiggling his brows, though he was sure the effect was lost due to the fact that he had a little girl pressed up against his stomach and snuffling against his neck.

She pretended to look thoughtful. "Hmm…again, no."

Jim snorted. "Wouldn't be much of a party then." She smiled, but something in her face, in her soft eyes that betrayed more emotion than her actions probably ever would, told him that her fears weren't quite assuaged. "Let me put it to you this way. I'm not leaving until I know your first name."

The minute tension left, and she let out an amused laugh. "You'll be here for a while then."

The door to his apartment swished open then, and Maggie Jay and Gaila came in, Gaila literally bouncing as she hauled in huge bags of never ending sparkles. Jim stared at them in horror. "Oh, god…please say you're taking that to Maggie Jay's."

Gaila looked at the bags, looked at Maggie then to Jim. She put down a bag by the doorway and told him quite frankly with a tone that brooked no argument, "That bag is going to M.J.'s" she said pointing at the smaller parcel on the ground. She then held up all the others. "These are for here! We're having Winter Solstice at your place and figured we should decorate accordingly."

He glanced at Maggie, who looked very much like the villain who had succeeded in revenge as she smirked at him. "When was I going to be told about this plan."

The Orion looked at him innocently. "I just did."

Jim sighed, finally resting his hand in his daughter's knotted, dark hair. "Bones is just gonna_ love_ this."

.ststst.

He called his brother approximately two weeks after he told his friends, or…well Maggie told his friends about his new baby. He didn't get a hold of Sam, but that was to be expected. He was working his way through college and expecting his own child. Aurelan, Jim swore, spent more time in a medical facility than any other woman on Earth, and it was all because Sam was paranoid senseless in a way that would remind him of Bones if it weren't so patently Kirk-ian.

So, he left a message with the simple words, "Jim: 2, Sam: 1."

For some reason he knew without a doubt Sam would know what he was talking about.

Of course, his brother calls him back at the most inappropriate time. He was just about to slide into Bones, and the damn communication station went off, blaring the alarm and killing the mood so fucking fast. Joanna didn't sleep light, but they had forgotten to turn the volume down from 'wake the dead' to 'delightfully annoying.'

He looked at Bones imploringly, regrettfully. He was pretty damn sure that it was a call from Starfleet Medical, because Bones was on call for the next three nights so he could have Winter Solstice off. The doctor groaned, rolling out from under Jim to find his pair of sleep pants before he hobbled off—still half-hard—to go answer the fucking computer before their daughter woke up. Jim collapsed fitfully onto the bed, glaring at the ceiling until Bones called for him.

Wrinkling his brow, he pulled on a shirt and his own pair of sleep pants before he stumbled painfully out into the living area where Bones was standing half-naked in front of a vid-feed of his brother.

He sighed. "Do you have no sense of time, Sam?"

Sam shrugged, his lips curling into a small frown under his stupid mustache. "Not really. I just got your message." He glanced at Bones. "He knocked you up again?"

He had finally told Sam and Aurelan the story of he and Bones the day before the two got hitched, starting from New Orleans all the way to the current date. They had been shocked. They had been_ really_ damn impressed, because really…Who runs into their one time fling after three years? Who gets to have the fairy tale ending he and Bones were making for themselves with all the secrets and traumas they'd experienced.

Jim snorted and behind him, he was sure Bones was rolling his eyes. "Yeah, Sam."

"Do you know what it is?" he almost sounded as excited about this as he usually did with his scientific babble.

"Girl," Jim replied simply. "You?"

Sam smiled, boyish and unlike everything he knew of his brother. "Boy."

Jim returned the smile. "What are you gonna name him?"

Aurelan was about two months further than he was. Jim was sure names had popped up already for them.

"Aurelan wants to name him Peter…after her grandfather."

"You gonna pass your name on?" Jim asked, knowing that may be a touchy subject.

"I don't really think so," Sam said with a shrug. "I don't really remember George, and what Winona always did to his name…I was thinking Peter Samuel, but I think she'll get the final vote."

Jim thought about that. Sam didn't have someone like Pike, who could turn their hero-so-much-better-than-his-children-would-ever-amount-to father into a man, with quirks and dislikes and downsides, but so many upsides. He was kind of glad that his brother didn't want to name his son George. It wouldn't feel right if he did. Jim had reclaimed George's name. Sam still had the ghosts his mother had left them with.

He thought that if Sam stuck to this name, and Aurelan agreed to it as well, that he would continue George's name. He would have to bring it up with Bones, but Georgie Eleanor really sounded strong and subtly stunning in his mind.


	4. Chapter 4

Winter Solstice was a small affair. It was the usual suspects lounging around in their suite, Uhura, Gaila, and Maggie Jay. It was a nice little thing and they didn't really do all that much except eat appetizers and watch the specials that Jim had put on the holoscreen for Joanna. A few of them had spiced apple cider, and everyone except Jim and Jo had a small glass of wine. It was very nice.

It would have to be that night, after everyone had left and they had Joanna down for the night, when Jim would have started reacting to the prenatal vitamins Bones had faithfully been giving him every night. He spent a good ten minutes huddled up against the toilet, spilling everything he had consumed that day back into the bowl. It was unpleasant to say the least, and Bones paced around him like this was somehow abnormal.

He kept muttering about hormone imbalances and such wonderful things that made Jim queasier just to hear about, but it seemed that his knowledge and his worry weren't quite connecting. Jim couldn't say that he wasn't used to the attention Bones usually laid upon him, but since the bean had come to light…well, it had soared to new levels. Apparently there was no end to the things the doctor could fret about.

He was never so glad that Bones had shift again, and at the same time glad it was a partial one. It was a bit of a paradox to want a few hours where Bones wasn't mother-henning him to death, while at the same time not wanting him to leave just yet. As it was, he packed Jo up for a few hours and headed over to Archer's office for a bit. He had received a message earlier in the day that the Admiral wanted to see him. He was a little shocked that it wasn't Pike.

Archer was fine with Jim, but he tended to just accept his presence more than demanding it.

Joanna ran before him, multiple colors clashing as she had dressed herself this morning, everything topped off with a glowing orange backpack. She was making shuttle noises with her arms held out beside her. Jim kept an eye on her, but there were few people around and they seemed to have free reign over the quad today, what with the winter holiday. He ushered up the steps to the building where Archer's office was located, and she switched from a shuttle to a bunny, hopping in her bright blue boots towards a heavy oak door that most definitely wasn't Archer's.

"Admiral!" she called, and before Jim could get to her she had slipped inside the door.

"Shit," Jim griped under his breath. The Fleet Admiral or some other big wig was probably in there and Joanna was about to invite him to a very serious game of Pirates vs. Klingons and she was always the pirate. He quickly jumped over to the door and levered it open. "Joanna?"

A cool voice from the desk hidden from view by the door said, "I believe the young lady is under the sofa."

Jim turned his eyes to the couch on the opposite side of the wall, able to see a small flash of bright blue boots scrabbling to hide further under the decorative furniture. "Joanna Lynn…" a soft giggle was the response to his authoritative tone. "Joanna, come here. This isn't the Admiral's office."

Her little head poked out, blue eyes visible under a tangle of brown hair. She looked up at the desk, probably for the first time then she shimmied out from under her hiding spot with a hardly apologetic, "Oops."

"Apologize for interrupting," he told her as she ran towards him.

She turned as a man came into view, a Vulcan from the looks of it wearing a teaching uniform. "Sorry," she said, looking down at the gray flooring.

He tilted his head. "It was hardly an inconvenience, young lady. It would however behoove you to make sure the room you are entering is the correct one."

She stared at him for a moment, before nodding her eyes alight with understanding. She grabbed Jim's hand, but Jim stayed for a moment, giving his own apology. "Sorry about that. I'll keep a better hold of her next time."

"A logical decision," he said, cool and unflappable. He tilted his head again. "Have a good afternoon, cadet."

"You too…sir." He pulled Joanna out of the room, the door coming shut behind them. He gave Joanna a weary look, and she had the gumption to look abashed. Shaking his head, he ran his hand over her tangled hair. "Stay next to me next time."

"Okay, daddy."

They walked a few more feet down the hallway before Jim opened the door the Archer's office, leading Joanna in by her hand. Unlike the previous room Jim had been in, when he opened the oak door he saw Archer's desk immediately and instead of two men, or even two men that he knew, he saw Archer and a portly man…Denobulan, Jim thought.

"Admiral!" Jo yelled, running over to Archer and hopping onto his lap as if that was his purpose in life. He picked her up easily, settling her on his knee.

Jim stepped in slowly, keeping the door open. "Did…we interrupt something?"

"Na, Jim. This is an old friend of mine." He waved his hand generously towards the Denobulan—Jim was definitely sure he was Denobulan now. "Doctor Phlox, this is Pike's bright star I was telling you about. Jim, this is Doctor Phlox. We used to work together."

"Why do I have a funny feeling this won't end well?" Jim asked with a slight smile as he looked over the two men suspiciously. He wasn't sure, but he didn't think this would be beneficial to what fragile bits of sanity he had left.

Archer shrugged, a quirky smile on his face. "Because you have a paranoid personality?" He adjusted, twirling in his seat of power, which always seemed to be comfortable for him, unlike Pike who always seemed to be commanding his seat to make him comfier. Archer looked towards his old friend. "Doctor Phlox was just in the area. He loves coming around here for Madame Chang's Chinese," he told Jim as if divulging a great secret.

Phlox gave a slight chuckle, his unnatural blue eyes shifting colors. "I was here for a seminar between the Interspecies Medical Exchange, but I_ do_ enjoy good Chinese food." There was a palpable silence between the three of them, would have been four if Joanna weren't so happy cuddling on her Admiral's lap, and then Phlox continued. "Jonathan tells me you're expecting a child."

Joanna took that moment to join the conversation. "I'ma have a baby!"

Phlox laughed deep in his belly, and Jim was reminded of myths about jolly men in furry red suits. "I'm sure you're quite excited about that, dear girl." She nodded near violently. "You have a suitable doctor, I trust?"

It would have irked Jim had he not sounded so worried for him. Of course the worry irked in and of itself, because-_Dammit!_- he had just sent his personal worrier off to work not two hours ago! He sighed, "I have a doctor, yeah. Bones…er, Leonard McCoy."

"He has…dealt with such a uniqueness before?" Jim wondered what 'uniqueness' he was speaking about. "There have never been many male Terrans who were able to naturally conceive a child."

Oh boy. "Uh…I don't think he's ever actually interacted with a scenario like this, but he has been reading up on it."

"Might I have the chance to speak with him?"

Bones was just gonna love this…

.ststst.

They arrived at Starfleet Medical Learning Center after about ten minutes. It was mostly empty, due to the continuing holiday and fewer students on campus. Most of the doctors worked half shifts, and there were only two or three licensed doctors and a few resident cadets milling throughout the place, along with a gaggle of nurses and a few technicians. They all seemed to be in the main entrance area, not really knowing what to do with themselves since inventory had been done before the Solstice and most of their patients were hardly critical. It was so slow the head of the Medical track had thought about outsourcing some of the workers to city hospitals, to help them out.

Bones was speaking with a few of the resident cadets, but looked to be wrapping it up as a few of them had slowed in their writing and were setting their styluses down against their padds. It came to an abrupt halt when Joanna disentangled herself from Jim's grasp, yelling, "Popsicle!"

She tore towards him as fast as her small legs would carry her, bright orange backpack bouncing off rhythm from her, and even from a distance Jim could hear a few of the other medical staff chuckle as she skidded to a halt in front of him and hugged his leg. Bones pressed his hand against her head, looking around until he saw Jim come in with the Admiral and Doctor Phlox. His brow automatically crumpled into worry as he looked between them assessing.

Jim turned to the other two men, saying, "Let me have a second with him." They nodded, and Jim half-jogged over to his lover. "Bones, ya got a minute?"

"I apparently do now." He waved to show his lack of interns, all of whom had gone to busy themselves with other tasks as Jim came over. Anxiety forcing a frown on his face, he asked, "What's going on?"

Jim could practically see him itching to grab his tricorder, an ache to make sure both he and his little bean were doing well. Jim flashed him a reassuring smile, and it seemed to sooth him enough. At the very least he didn't look like he was about to take Jim away and put him through every test his genius brain could think of.

He looked down at their daughter, her fists still in her father's red pants. He was about to pull a really bad parent-move, but he wanted a few moments alone with Bones. "Jo-bear, Admiral's got a piece of candy in his jacket. Make him give it to you."

Her eyes went comically wide and before either of them could blink, she was a flash streaking towards the Admiral. She tugged insistently on his hand, a sweet grin that always had the Admiral bending to her will sliding onto her face. Archer gave him a small glare, but produced a candy from his jacket as Jim knew he would. The man always had candy on him.

"Jim…" Bones groaned. They were trying to curb her lust for candy, and what Jim had done so hadn't helped at all.

"I wanted a second," he said, somewhat apologetic. Then he nodded to Doctor Phlox, who was watching Joanna and Archer with that same delighted grin that he almost never seemed to be without. "The gentle-looking Denobulan man—ya see him?"

Bones raised his eyebrow. "Ye-ah."

"He wants to talk to you."

Giving a soft 'uh huh,' he then proceeded to ask Jim with a little irritation already clouting his tone, "'bout what?"

"The complexities of the situation that we are now in and some of the things that can happen with something so unnatural."

The doctor's eyes widened, and Jim mentally smacked himself for his poor choice of words as Bones almost entered into a tirade. He stepped closer to Jim, demanding, "Did he actually say…"

"No!" Jim intercepted. "Unnatural-like it doesn't happen that often, not-unnatural as in I'm a freak of nature, which I am by the way."

He looked as if for all of him he wished he could argue some sense into Jim, his hazel eyes staring into his own for a few seconds before his lips tightened. He glanced over at Phlox, and then with a put-upon sigh, asked, "Has he dealt with something like this before?"

"Well," Jim said, going over what he had heard about the good doctor in the fifteen minutes he had known him, "from what I gleaned, the guy's like 300 years old and has been to every part of space, including Klingon territory."

"You don't know," Bones translated for him.

"Not a clue."

Bones seemed to consider this meeting that was about to take place. After a few moments, he demanded in an almost dead-serious tone, "Am I gonna have to kill Archer?"

Jim smiled at him. "I was once told you can't kill officers until you outrank them."

He made a noncommittal noise, muttering unintelligibly under his breath. With a final exasperated glance over to the two males holding their daughter's attention he growled out, "Let's get this over with."

"Try not to look like you ate one of Jo's crayons." Jim nudged him gently, a smile tugging on his lips when Bones yet again raised his eyebrow.

"Doctor Leonard McCoy," he said reaching his hand out.

The Denobulan took it gladly. "Doctor Phlox. Shall we retreat to a suitable seating area?"

Bones led them to a small meeting area, a larger waiting room for any family of cadets that were critically injured, complete with a couch and three marginally comfortable looking seats around a table. Jim took Joanna over to the couch, pulling a padd out of the backpack on her shoulders. He set her up with a coloring screen, watching for a few moments as she set about making pictures with her bottom lip trapped between her teeth.

Then, he pretty much watched as the scene unfolded, ready to play referee if something got out of control.

Bones surprisingly took it_ much better_ than Jim had been anticipating.

He kept his voice down and refrained from calling anyone an idiot, though a few times looking at Archer it seemed to be a really close thing. After a while, his face lost that pinched expression, trading it in for one of concentration as he listened to all Phlox had to tell him, soaking it in like a sponge. He was actually polite, the perfect southern gentleman filled with curiosity and thirst for knowledge that Jim had only heard rumored from his classmates and professors.

It nearly floored Jim when Bones asked, "How long will you be in San Francisco?"

Jim took that moment to interrupt. "Bones, are you feeling okay?"

His brows crinkled in that delicious way he had when he was confused. "Yeah, Jim…why?"

Jim, holding their daughter, shrugged. "Just making sure." He tried not to look like he was freaked out by Bones' lack of anger. He also tried not to show that he was quite ecstatic about the fact that Bones was kinda being relaxed about the entire situation, and seemed to be put more at ease as Phlox spoke to him about what to expect throughout the course of Jim's pregnancy.

He knew Phlox's personality went a long way in that. Never once did Phlox insinuate that just because Bones hadn't handled something like this before mean that he couldn't do it. He never spoke down to Bones, and was generally genial about the entire conversation; save for the few times he spoke about what could go wrong.

Generally, it seemed to Jim, that there were few differences between Terran male and female gestation periods. Hormonal imbalances to begin with, making sure the blood rH's matched, the same rate of fetal development, and the same risks marked both genders.

Phlox gave a small smile. He was obviously a lot like Gaila in the sense that they both seemed to be generally pleased with life. "I will be remaining for the week, possibly two. My youngest wife just commed a few short hours ago to inform me of a solar storm in the Denobulan system. She insisted that I delay travel until it had passed, sweet thing that she is."

"Well, that'll be just about the time classes start up again," Bones said. "I'd like to continue this chat, if you have the time. You mind hanging around here for a few days?"

"I would be more than happy to. It's always enthralling to speak with such invested people, not that you aren't, Jonathan," he nodded towards Archer, then, "Jim, but I know that sometimes people who aren't invested in scientific knowledge can grow wearisome of my chatter."

Archer shrugged. "I've always tried my best to keep up."

Bones ignored the admiral completely as he reached once more for Doctor Phlox's hand. "It would be an honor to work with you, doctor."

"Likewise, I assure you," he said, is grin proving that the Denobulan musculature could very well express pure joy in what was nearly a painful manner to watch. His smile quite literally almost reached his eyes. "I will be speaking with you soon. Until then, I have a seminar to present at. Gentlemen, have a splendid day."

.ststst.

A few nights later, Joanna came bounding into the living room.

Bones had the night off, his schedule slowly shifting from the holiday's 'whenever you can come in' to a stricter timesheet that matched his classes for the upcoming semester. He took his spare time to look into some of the readings Professor Felding had suggested, having taken a liking to the professor he was assisting to teach over the year and a half they had been working together. This semester he would be assisting another teacher, but he and Felding still spoke every so often.

Jim was on the couch, a bound paper book in his hands to pass some of this time away.

Joanna hopped up to him, a look of concern scrunching her cute face. She stood at the edge of the couch, for a few seconds, and though she had his full attention, he didn't look up from his book quite yet. Finally, when his inattentiveness had gotten to her, she huffed. "Daddy, can I ask a question?"

"Better than anyone I know, Jo-bear." He picked his head up from his book and was met with a feminine, four-year-old version of Bones' glare. He almost wasn't able to repress his smile. He set his book down on the table, asking, "Whatcha need?"

"I was talkin' to Maudry and I was tellin' him how I'ma have a baby." Jim had tried to explain to her a few days ago that_ he_ was having a baby, but she didn't seem to care. In her mind, she got the baby; daddy was only an incubator. He nodded, physically showing his interest in where this was going. "He said that I can't have a baby, 'coz you don't have the china. Only people with the china can have a baby."

Oh…Maudry was so toast next time he saw that little boy.

Jim took a moment to himself. He was_ so_ not going to correct her incorrectly pronounced use of the word, 'vagina.' It just wasn't happening. He almost wanted to find Maudry tomorrow and ask where he had heard the word and then perhaps contact the boy's parents and have a good talking to, because…really? Upon a quick glance at Bones, he found his partner had the same expression on his face, mingled with something that Jim thought may have been Bones going into a seizure.

He gave his little girl his attention again, asking hopefully, "Okay, what was your question?"

"How'm I gonna have a baby if you don't have the china?"

This was so fucked up.

"Jo…" He thought carefully about how to handle this. He almost wanted to pawn it off on Bones, just let the parent actually dealing with anatomy and other such studies do hazzard control on this awkward situation. He didn't think it would be fair, though. Joanna had asked Jim, so he would do his best to answer. "_Usually_, Maudry would be right. Women are typically known to have babies. However, men can have babies too now. A couple years ago they came up with a plan so men could be daddies without necessarily having mommies around."

She nodded slowly to herself, her whip-like mind snatching the information it was given. "So, you and Popsicle have one of these plans?"

"Not quite. Daddy's special. He doesn't need a plan, like other men. I was born with the gift to have kids."

"Soo," she dragged the word out, looking at him critically, "you do have the china?"

"_No!_" he returned, emphatically, eyes widening without his consent. God, did he really have to do this right now? Explaining 'the birds and the bees' to his four year old had not been on his to-do list anytime in the near future. He had rather hoped if he was lucky he could keep it away from her until she was like…forty.

"Joanna, come here." Bless Bones!

Joanna hopped away from Jim and crawled into Bones' lap. He explained basic anatomy to her without explaining_ anatomy_ to her, and she took it fairly well, her wide, blue eyes concentrating solely on her popsicle as he explained much better than Jim ever could. After a few minutes, Bones even managed to turn the conversation away from this particularly horrific topic.

In just a few short moments, she was giggling and proclaiming, "You're silly, Popsicle!" as he named the bones in her body in a silly voice, tickling her when he got to neck and trailed down to her ribs. Bones had a smile on his face as he held her captive, not letting her get away from his tickle-torture.

Jim reached for the closest padd he had, snapping a picture to add to Bones' collection of pictures.

He had been doing that since they moved in together, capturing pictures of Joanna and him and adding them to the padd Maggie Jay had sent a year and a half ago. Bones surprisingly caught a few pictures of Jim and Jo together as well and added it to the padd that only had an application for pictures.

Soon they would have to start a new padd, one for another daughter who would light up their world just as much as Joanna did.

They soon tucked Jo into bed. Bones had helped her bathe, which was almost pointless now. At this point she was efficient at getting everything except for the soap out of her hair. They gave her kisses goodnight and that night it was Jim's turn to read her a story. She wasn't asleep by the time her story was over, so he set the computer to play some quiet music for her.

When he came back to the living area, Bones was sprawled out on the couch watching a medical documentary.

Jim sighed, crawling up Bones's body, moving and repositioning limbs until he was ensconced in his lover's warm body, head resting against Bones' collarbone and arm firmly trapping the doctor from even considering moving. It was a little uncomfortable. Jim was curled nearly in half to fit into the cradle of Bones' body, and Bones looked…well, he looked like someone had positioned him and he just didn't care enough to move. For all of the discomfort, however, it was almost like falling into a pit of personal happiness…at least for the moment.

Bones began rubbing his hand up and down Jim's arm, saying quietly so as Joanna wouldn't hear them over her music, "I'd really like to know where the hell that kid heard that word. He's only five."

Jim shrugged best he could from his position. "Fuck if I know. I'd have liked it if he kept it to himself though. I would give the President to the Klingons if Joanna didn't say 'vagina' for another ten years at the very least."

"Who knew a mind as devious as yours could falter at such a simple word," Bones teased in his own dry way.

"Even a mind as devious as mine cannot fathom my little girl saying vagina, no matter how cute her mispronunciation was."

"Coulda been worse, Jim," he said, his hand halting in its caressing to rest contentedly on Jim's bicep. Jim waited for a beat. "She coulda said 'penis.'" He groaned and turned his head into Bones' shoulder, but the doctor continued ruthlessly. "They coulda had a game of 'you show me yours; I'll show you mine.'"

"Jesus, Bones!"

His exclamation drew a quiet chuckle out of the doctor that Jim could both hear and feel as Bones leaned his head down and whispered, "I will show you mine if you show me yours."

Jim picked his head up, a smirk quickly replacing any look of mortification. His expression was mirrored by Bones and the confident upturn to his lips, the steady invitation in his hazel eyes. Jim's lips quickly morphed into a full smile. "Turn Jo's music up," he demanded, giving Bones a quick kiss. "I'll get the water going."

.ststst.

A/N: I'm feeling some cheese bread…mmmm

InnocentGuilt


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